Healthy, pain-free feet are important to enjoying life. Yet, sometimes we don’t really realize how important they are until something goes wrong. With 26 bones, complex muscles, and connective tissue, your feet and ankles can be complicated.
How we can help
The members of the Cheshire Medical Center’s podiatry team are specialists in treating any problem you may have with your feet, ankles or lower legs. Whether you need help creating a daily foot-care routine to prevent infection, medicine for a foot condition, or advanced ankle surgery, we can help.
These are some of the problems we can treat:
- Arthritis
- Chronic pain
- Diabetic foot conditions and complications like foot ulcers, including limb preservation
- Deformities, like flat feet, high arches, hammertoe, and bunions
- Fractures
- Hammertoe, or toes that aren’t straight
- Heel pain, sometimes caused by plantar fasciitis, bone spurs, tendonitis, or even the wrong shoes
- Issues with your toenails, such as one that’s ingrown
- Neuromas, or nerve-related conditions
- Numbness, often from peripheral neuropathy
- Skin issues related to the lower leg and foot, such as corns, calluses, and plantar warts
- Sports-related injuries, like torn ligaments, fractures, and sprains
- Trauma to feet, ankles, or lower legs
- Wounds on feet or lower legs
- Other pain or discomfort in your feet or ankles
Your personalized treatment plan
Often, the personalized care plans we create to help patients with foot problems involve healthy footwear for your feet; however, we usually look at many aspects of your life to figure out what’s causing you pain and discomfort. To make a diagnosis, we often use diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests or a biopsy examined by our specialized pathologists before we create a personalized treatment plan.
Our podiatry team includes doctors who are board-certified in reconstructive foot, rearfoot, and ankle surgery so many complex procedures can be done right here in Keene.
Latest treatments and procedures
- Ankle fusions (arthrodesis) and reconstruction
- Bunion repair: a procedure to remove or realign a bunion, an enlargement of bone or tissue around the joint at the base of the big toe
- Complex reconstruction of post-traumatic injuries
- Non-surgical treatments: wearing a cast or special shoe, using arch supports or custom-made orthotics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, rest and ice, physical therapy
- On-site orthotist
- Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections
Podiatry as part of your diabetes treatment
If you have diabetes, your podiatrist can be one of your most important doctors because diabetes can damage your legs and feet. We will develop a foot-care routine to help you check your feet every day, especially if you have neuropathy and have lost feeling in your feet. You can also schedule regular foot checks with us to make sure we can catch and treat any problem right away. Should you need it, our podiatry team is highly trained in reconstructive surgery for limb preservation. Our podiatry specialists are able to care for complex and chronic wounds.
It is very important that you visit our urgent visits team right away if you have injured your foot or ankle and have diabetes. Open every day, including holidays, our Primary Care Urgent Visit providers will treat your injury, infection, blister, or other foot problem without an appointment. Your medical records are seamlessly connected so the podiatry team can schedule a follow-up appointment for further treatment.
Learn more about diabetes services.
Collaboration for the best care
Cheshire Medical Center’s podiatry team may coordinate with other experts as part of your personalized treatment plan. For example:
- Physical and occupational therapists in outpatient rehabilitation can help you regain stability and proper movement.
- If you need custom foot orthotics or braces, theO&P Labs and OrthoCare office is just down the hall. Our team works closely with this durable medical equipment (DME) provider for expert fitting, training, and follow-up care for your device.
- If you need other custom support braces or artificial limbs, your doctor may refer you to our orthotics and prosthetics clinic.